The present invention relates generally to improvements in systems for handling shingled streams of flat articles, and particularly to systems for stacking such flat articles into containers in a continuous manner.
The system and apparatus of the present invention is capable of handling a wide range of flat articles which can be fed in shingled streams. For example, sheets of paper, leaflets including several layers of paper, small booklets, envelopes, carton blanks, and assembled carton blanks in the flattened condition, can all be handled by the apparatus of the present invention. For purposes of illustration, the system has been shown as applied to the handling of shingled streams of leaflets, but it will be understood that various other flat articles can be satisfactorily handled by the system and apparatus.
Flat articles such as leaflets and the like are commonly handled in shingled streams, i.e., streams wherein the individual leaflets are overlapped for a major portion of the length thereof. Several prior apparatus have been provided for stacking the leaflets received in a shingled stream, see for example the Maxon U.S. Pat. No. 1,545,910, the Renz U.S. Pat. No. 2,177,460 and the McWhorter U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,321, which all show stacking the leaflets in a horizontal manner. Vertical stacking of leaflets from a shingled stream is illustrated in the Rapley U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,850, the Faeber U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,298, the Winkler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,189, and the Klapp U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,982. Vertical stacking of leaflets from a non-shingled stream is shown in the Rapley U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,850, the Middleditch et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,149, the Heliot U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,184, the Stoothoff U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,107 and Dutch Patent Application No. 66/18060. Stacking of shingled streams of leaflets into inclined stacks is illustrated in the Stobb U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,656 and 3,822,793. None of these patents however show the stacking of leaflets from a shingled stream downwardly into containers in an uninterrupted manner.
The typical system for handling the transfer of stacking from one container to another is illustrated in the Dean U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,329 where temporary storage is effected while switching from one container to another. Such a system is inherently slow in operation and further is complicated in construction and operation.